Optimization of Sonochemical Degradation of Tetracycline in Aqueous Solution Using Sono-Activated Persulfate Process Publisher



Safari GH¹ ; Nasseri S^{1, 2} ; Mahvi AH^{1, 3} ; Yaghmaeian K^{1, 3} ; Nabizadeh R^{1, 4} ; Alimohammadi M¹
Source: Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering Published:2015

Abstract

Background: In this study, a central composite design (CCD) was used for modeling and optimizing the operation parameters such as pH, initial tetracycline and persulfate concentration and reaction time on the tetracycline degradation using sono-activated persulfate process. The effect of temperature, degradation kinetics and mineralization, were also investigated. Results: The results from CCD indicated that a quadratic model was appropriate to fit the experimental data (p < 0.0001) and maximum degradation of 95.01 % was predicted at pH = 10, persulfate concentration = 4 mM, initial tetracycline concentration = 30.05 mg/L, and reaction time = 119.99 min. Analysis of response surface plots revealed a significant positive effect of pH, persulfate concentration and reaction time, a negative effect of tetracycline concentration. The degradation process followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic. The activation energy value of 32.01 kJ/mol was obtained for US/S2O82- process. Under the optimum condition, the removal efficiency of COD and TOC reached to 72.8 % and 59.7 %, respectively. The changes of UV-Vis spectra during the process was investigated. The possible degradation pathway of tetracycline based on loses of N-methyl, hydroxyl, and amino groups was proposed. Conclusions: This study indicated that sono-activated persulfate process was found to be a promising method for the degradation of tetracycline. © 2015 Safari et al.